Power-driven ciphering devices



1957 c. w. HAGELIN 2,777,556

POWER-DRIVEN CIPHERING DEV ICEZS Filed Dec. 29, 1952 AWOENEYJ' UnitedStates Patent "ice The present iiiventi'oh coii'ceriih 'a nichahisih foral l'o'Wiii'g control of eweidiiveii ciphers g devices; crypibgrapiiicmachines and the like' by rneansat a keyboard similar to that of atypewriter. It is a coh'ditibnthat the cipherin'g de'vieeitseitincl-tides at least one type wneei f ea priming e ehciiihi'ed erdeeipnei ea when there are iflorc" type wheels," one at? thehi' shouldbe pro-video for printing the plain text se't ups A further c'dn'ditibhpre' dent fer theiiiventiom is that the ciphering" deviceis pbwer'driven, preferably by cit-seine inor iand that thjteis a s'o'u'ice" ofcurrent for feeding shift mini-er nagne Th e'hje-ct or the invent is toprovide a rapidly deemin citing 7 device of shiall dinie'nsiolisairiwhich the? sequence of slghh of the type Wheel or ty'pe wheels printingtype-wheat ismove toia primary pas v t sitien with is characterisednytiie face that said depression 06 the keythe sign earl-es din iii"WliiCli the" encip neieti sign is pnn The c'i'ph'er irig device is nowready for re iv the iieXt the accompanying draw sea inaiii shaftsetbi 1shaft g 2 a d -cli1tch{3i and gearin 2 cliiteh tii afdi i den-vets toallow the shaft 100' and the shaft 110 of the gearing 5, respectively,to be released from gearing 2 and thus also from the motor. When thusreleased shaft 100 and' gearing 5' stop rotating and are, furthermore,imme diately locked in their positions, the former at the ratchet wheel28 by the action of apawl 29 and the latter at the ratchet wheel 7 bythe action of a pawl 8L Pawl is biased by a spring 3 4 and pawl8i'sbiased: By a spring- 9'; both of said springs tending to bring therespective pawls into engagement with their ratchet wheels.

As an alternative, the gearing 5 when in normal position may be leftunlocked by the locking device 7, 8

The electromagnet I7 is energized when the cam op erat'e'd contact 37 isclosed as well as when the feeler arm 95 is in contact witha segment ofthe commutator 94 which isconnected via one of the" conductors 68-93;

i the multiple switch 41' random ofthe conductors 42-67 with the closedkey contact 18 which closes the circuit through the winding of magnet 17Here it should be noted that in the normal position of the cipheringdevice all of the key contacts are held closedl Conseqtien'tl'y, theelectromagnet' 17 holds its armature 14- constan'tly attracted in thenormal state of the device. This is also the case as long as the shaft101 rotates constantly as above mentioned. The cam operated contact 37is opened momentarily by the action of cam 36 each time the feeler arm95 is in the middle of a segment of commutator 94.

When a key 20 is depressed its offset 22 is caught by the too-thi23 of alever'li after said lever has first been nioved t o'the left by thesloping edge of the key below offset 22. At this movement a fork 1021engaged bysaidlever 21 is moved to the left together with the bar It)carrying same, thereby allowing the hook-shaped left handend of bar todrop behind the angularly bent upperend 'o'f pavvl 8. As soon as theoffset 22 passes the" tip of tooth 23", a spring 11 biases the lever 21to the right; until a fiill engagement is established between 22 and23". By this movementoflever 21 the fork 102' as Well as its supportingbar 10 is accordingly rno-vecl to the right, the bar in its turn movingthe upper end of pawl 8 to the right, thereby disengaging paWl Sfromratbhetiwheel' 7. This will release gearing 5 and shaft 101'. Hereit may be noted that the key when depressed locks, by means not shown,all of the other keys of the keyboard' against operation.

Shaft 101' when thus-released starts rotating and continu'eis' to rotateuntil the feeler arm comes into contact" With a segment of thecommutator 91whichiscon= nected via the multiple swit'chAT to the keycontact 18- he'ldiop eii the depressed ke .At the same instantwhen= thecamdper'ated contact 37 is opened} the elec tieinag iei 11' isde-er'ierg'iiedallowirig its armaturei i to dr o'p;- whi c'h' starts thefo'll'oiav'ingZ oper atio nsi I (9')" The project'ion' 24' of thedepending arm- E armature 1 3; biased as itis b y spring 16', locks theratchet wh'el 9Sdf sh'aftf10i agaih's't rotation- The type wheel 46h newin'its primary .pcis n" in which the sign correspiinding' to. the keydepressed may he printed; Themultiple sw i tcti'l allows predetermiriingany disti'ibutibn' desired of: the signs on the type wheel 49. Tothisend it is ohly necessary to set the muti ple switch 41 tosuch aposition that upondepressionof any desired key of the keyboard theproper primany position corresponding to said keyis obtained;

( b) The armature 14- acts onthe-back 1 3 015 bar it without displacing"the latter lohgituclinallyw The result= wheel 7 and locks-it against,rotatiort thereby alsolock:v

Patented Jan. 15, 1957 ing the gearing and releasing it at clutch 6 fromshaft 101. I

(c) The detent 25 formed by the hooked lower end of arm 15 releasesratchet wheel 26. Shaft All starts rotation and transmits said rotationto the shifting mechanism 39. As soon as shaft 100 starts rotation, cam27 restores the armature 14 to normal position, thereby causing itsdepending arm 15 again to release shaft 101. The shifting mechanism 39imparts via gearing 96 to shaft 101 a number of ciphering steps whichdepends on the intrinsic setting of mechanism 3 with a resultingrotation of the type wheel 46 to its secondary position in which theenciphered (or deciphered) sign may be printed. The clutch 6 releasesshaft 1M from the locked gearing 5. 7

Immediately before shaft 1% has completed a revolution the cam 28 forcesthe pawl 29 to the side, thereby swinging the lever 34) against theaction of spring 34. Lever 3th displaces by means of its upper hookedend 35 the bar it? another time to the left, yet without causing it toengage pawl 8 by its left hand end, that is to say, the bar only slidesat 99. Lever 21 which is caused to partake in this movement releases at23, 22 the depressed key Ztl. Springs 34 and 11 restore the respectivelevers 3t} and 21 to normal position. As, however, by that time armature14 and its depending arm is in its normal position, cam 26 is againlocked by the detent 25, thereby in its turn locking the shaft 100against rotation. The cycle of operation is now ended, and the cipheringdevice is restored to normal position ready for receiving another sign.

I claim:

1. In a ciphering device, the combination of a keyboard having keys forsetting up sequences of signs to be enciphered or deciphered, at leastone type Wheel for reproducing enciphered or deciphered sign sequences,electric means under the control of the keys of said keyboard forsetting the type wheel in a primary position in response to the keyoperated, a rotatable shaft for supporting the type wheel, solenoidmeans for instantly arresting said shaft and locking it against rotationat the attainment of said primary position, and means controlled by saidsolenoid means for shifting the position of the type wheel from saidprimary position to a secondary position for modifying the signsequences said electric means comprising a stationary commutator and anassociated contact member mounted for movement with said rotatable shaftfor supporting a type wheel.

2. In a ciphering device, the combination with a type Wheel forreproducing enciphered or deciphered sequences of signs, a shaft forsupporting said wheel, power driven means and magnetic arresting meansfor setting said shaft with the type wheel in a primary position, anelectric circuit system for controlling said setting operation, saidelectric circuit systemvincluding a group of key-controlled contacts, acommutator-selector having a corresponding group of contacts incombination with said shaft, a multiple switch inserted between saidgroup of key-contacts and said selector for connecting any desiredkey-contact with any desired selector contact, and a shifting mechanismcontrolled by said electric circuit system for moving said shaft withthe type wheel from said primary position to a secondary position.

3. In a ciphering device as claimed in claim 2 the further feature thatthe said multiple switch is provided with fixedly interlinked,exchangeable switch elements for operatively associating any given typewheel with a switch element controlling a selected sequence of signscorresponding to that of the type wheel.

4. In a ciphering device as claimed in claim 1 at least one of said typewheels being exchangeable.

5. The combination with a ciphering device having a type wheel and ashaft therefor for setting the type wheel in a primary position, inwhich it may reproduce a sign to beenciphered or deciphered, and ashifting mechanism with a shaft therefor for moving the type wheel intoa secondary position after each primary setting thereof, of a set ofkeys for setting up signs to be enciphered or deciphered, a power motor,transmission means for imparting rotation from said motor to saidshafts, mechanical means under the control of the keys for coupling thetype wheel shaft to said transmission means upon the depression of akey, means for stopping the rotation of the typewheel shaft, an electriccircuit for controlling the opera-tion of said stopping means, a contactat each key for preparing said circuit for a stopping action on thedepression of a key, a selector comprising a stationary commutator andan associated movable contact controlled by the type wheel shaft forcausing the circuit to effect stopping of the type wheel shaft, when thetype wheel reaches tis respective primary position, and means operableby said circuit for connecting the shaft of the shifting mechanism tothe power transmssion means for rotating the shifting mechanism andcausing it to move the type Wheel shaft with the type wheel to thesecondary position immediately after the type wheel has stopped in theprimary position.

6. In a ciphering device, the combination of a keyboard having keys forsetting up signs to be enciphered or deciphered, a type Wheel forreproducing one at a time the signs thus set up, a shaft for supportingsaid type wheel, a motor, means for transmitting power from the motor tothe type wheel shaft, an electric circuit including a key-operatedcontact, a selector contact connected to the type wheel shaft forrotation thereby, a stationary commutator for cooperation with saidselector contact, an electromagnet operable under the joint control ofsaid contacts, and means operable by said electromagnet for arrestingthe type wheel in a primary position, a shifting mechanism for movingthe type wheel shaft from said primary position to a secondary position,and means under the control of said electromagnet for imparting arotation from the motor to the shifting mechanism for causing it toeffect said movement of the type wheel to a secondary position.

7. In a ciphering device, the combination with a type wheel forreproducing enciphered or deciphered signs, a shaft for supporting saidtype wheel, a shifting mechanism,

a shaft therefor, a motor, transmission means for imparting power fromsaid motor to said shafts, a set of keys, mechanical means operable bythe depression of a key for coupling the type wheel shaft to the powertransmission means for rotating said type wheel shaft, an electriccircuit system for stopping said rotation of the type Wheel shaft, whenthe type wheel has reached a primary position corresponding to the keydepressed, said electric circuit system comprising an electromagnet, agroup of key-controlled contacts, a selector comprising a stationarycommutator having a corresponding group of contacts and a movablecontact for cooperation therewith, said contact being connected to thetype wheel shaft for moving therewith, a multiple switch insertedbetween said group of keycontacts and said commutator contacts forconnecting any desired key-contact with any desired commutator contact,a shifting mechanism for moving the type wheel shaft from said primaryposition to a secondary position and means under the control of saidcircuit system for coupling ,the shifting mechanism to the powertransmission means for causing the shifting mechanism to effect saidoperation of the type wheel shaft.

8. In a ciphering device, the combination of a group of keys for settingup signs to be enciphered or decipher-ed,

a type means for reproducing respectively the signs set up by said groupof keys, a shaft for supporting said type means, a motor, means fortransmitting power from the motor to the shaft, an electric circuitincluding a keyoperated contact, a selector means connected to saidshaft ;for rotation thereby, distribution means for cooperation withsaid selector means, an electromagnet operable under the joint controlof said contact and said selector means, a

bell crank having one arm thereof constituting an armature for saidvelectromagnet and having its other arm provided with a cam followermeans on its end and a projection intermediate the cam follower meansand the pivot of said bell crank for arresting the type means in a firstposition in response to movement of said bell crank from a normalposition upon de-energization of said electromagnet, a mechanism formoving said type means to a second position, and means for actuatingsaid mechanism for causing it to effect said movement of said type meansto said second position and having cam means connected thereto arrangedto act on said cam follower means and to restore said bell crank to saidnormal position.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8, said means for actuating saidmechanism being under the control of said electromagnet.

